Dear Source:
Dear Governor De Jongh:
During the campaign you promised a future of opportunity for the Virgin Islands youth. Nine months later all we have seen is the succession of an old system that has failed to provide our youths with real opportunities to succeed.
What future is there for children who are remanded to the youth rehabilitation facility on St. Croix, who sit idle for most of the day without the treatment programs that will give them hope and motivate them to lead productive lifestyles? Where is the vocational training to teach them a trade they can use to become gainfully employed once they are released? Where is the complete educational program theyre entitled to?
When children are not taught new methods in solving the problems and conflicts they experience with their peers, the end result is a child being returned to society and reacting to future conflicts the only way they know how. Violence is most often the only option they know, hence the escalating crime problem we are witnessing.
The shoddy atmosphere and failing physical plant at YRC are demoralizing and is hazardous to the staff and their clients. The leadership team at our facility is incompetent, thus lacking any vision for the future of the facility. Where is the change you promised? Are we going to allow for another generation of children to walk the street without any marketable skills? From my angle, its beginning to look like more of the same.
Send Help ASAP.
Gonzalo Rivera
St. Croix
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